Only a masochist would read a recap of Saturday's game, so I'll keep it brief.
The Yankees have the same scouting report on Mark Buehrle that I do. Bunt, then get him throwing early in the count. In the 4th inning where Buehrle failed to retire a man, the Yankees put down 2 bunts, and scored 4 runs on 7 pitches. That was an inning after using 2 bunts to help lead to 3 runs in 11 pitches.
Buehrle has started 3 games in July, pitching terribly to raise his ERA from 3.22 to 4.43 despite having 16 outings and 112 innings pitched prior to the start of the month. He's allowed 30 hits 24 runs (22 of them earned) in just 14 innings of work. Josh Towers is probably the only starter in baseball with a similar 3-game stretch this season.
That's inexcusably bad. Buehrle has some explaining to do, tough we're likely to hear an excuse like "dead arm" or tipping pitches. That Ozzie removed him with just 51 pitches in the 4th inning I'm guessing the former.
Cliff Politte tacked on 4 runs for the Yankees late to really make this one a laugher. I said that I wasn't going to say much about Politte still being on the roster until after the All-Star break, well, it's that time.
Politte is done. I've been saying for months now. The Sox can not sit idly by with (effectively) a 5-man pen. They can not continue to give Politte the benefit of 'working his way back' while his ERA climbs to 9. He was able to save himself the indignity of being stuck with the dreaded 9.00 ERA when he retired the last 3 batters he saw after Bubba Crosby hit a HR to briefly raise Politte to the run-an-inning mark.
Cliff Politte needs to be designated for assignment, yesterday! No more chances. He's done.